A New Era of Mischief
by TartCat207
Summary: When the Marauders leave school, someone obviously has to take over for them! Who better than Fred and George Weasley? Rated T because I'm paranoid. Written for the QLFC.


**A/N: Hello everyone! This story was created for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. It is in an AU where the Potters live. I hope you like it!**

 **Team: Puddlemere United**

 **Position: Chaser Two (Reserve)**

 **Prompt: Time Bandits**

 **Word Count (Minus A/N):** **2,207**

 **Beta'd By: JBrocks917**

It was the middle of the night, and the whole of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was fast asleep.

Or so it seemed.

For right at this moment, someone, or maybe someones, were creeping around the castle. One, two, or three, it was impossible to tell. Snoozing portraits were woken by the thump of footsteps and the swish of a cloak as it rounded a corner. Doors were opened on their own, and a voice was heard whispering the password to the painting of the Fat Lady. Stairs creaked as something made its way up them, and floorboards whined as footsteps fell upon them. The door to the first years' dorm opened with no visible person to open it. Only once they were inside did the intruders reveal themselves.

Two young men with seemed to appear out of thin air, peeling off a strange, silvery cloak as they went. First, dark hair, black robes, and hazel brown eyes were revealed as James Potter's round glasses glinted in the moonlight. And then, a second person came out from under the mysterious cloak, and Sirius Black's dark robes, black hair, and stormy grey eyes emerged. And yet another was now lowering his wand from his head, his disguise now taken off of him so that Remus Lupin's light brown hair, same dark robes, and chocolate colored eyes shone in the moonlight streaming through the window. He seemed to have become something akin to a human chameleon while sneaking around the castle.

Remus stayed behind to guard the door while the other two crept over to where two beds rested, their owners slumbering peacefully inside. They held their wands at the ready and gently shook the sleeping boys awake.

Fred and George Weasley rolled over in their beds and woke with a start.

Silencing charms were quickly placed upon them as their mouths opened in silent screams, but the boys got the gist of it. "Calm down," said Sirius. "We're not here to hurt you."

Fred and George still looked panicked, but after a minute, they both stopped silent-screaming. James and Sirius lifted the charms.

"Hello, boys," said James. "Fred and George, is that right?" They nodded robotically, their eyes wide.

"Sorry to barge in on you like that. There's no need to be worried." There was a long stretch of silence, in which Fred and George silently communicated by sharing glances.

"Who are you? And why are you here?" asked Fred finally, after determining that the strange people weren't going to attack them.

"Ah, well, I'm glad you asked." said James with a grin. "You see, me and my little group of friends over here are the Marauders, purveyors and aids to magical mischief making. At least, that's what we put on the Map."

"What Map?" asked George, curiosity taking over after the panic had subsided.

"Well," Sirius butted in, "I'm glad you asked that too! The Marauders Map is the crucial ingredient in order to do proper mischief making in Hogwarts. Here, let me show you."

He took out a seemingly blank piece of parchment from his pockets and laid it out on George's bed. Fred got up and walked over in order to see.

Sirius took out his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he said, putting the tip of it on the piece of parchment.

At once, ink sprouted from the point where the wand had touched the parchment and spread all over, creating hallways, classrooms, offices, and people.

"Whoa," marveled the twins. James and Sirius grinned. "Moony, come on over!" said Sirius, gesturing for Remus to join them. He reluctantly walked over to them, as if afraid that as soon as he left his post, someone would walk through the door. The other Marauders noticed this. "Come on, Moony," said James. "Even _we're_ not that unlucky."

Remus smiled after a moment and strode forward, less nervous for his friends' confidence. But, it turns out, they _were_ that unlucky. A minute after Remus had been called off of guard duty, as the boys were all poring over the Map, the door was pushed open with a soft creak.

"What on Earth is going on here?" hissed Professor McGonagall, glaring disapprovingly at them. Their heads shot up, and their eyes widened.

"Doggone it," swore Sirius with a grin.

"Oh deer," said James with a small smile.

"And… I don't have a pun," mumbled Remus, hanging his head.

Professor McGonagall was seething. "I've had enough of your stupid puns! Thirty points from Gryffindor and detentions every day for a whole week for each of you!"

"Aw, but Professor, that's not fair! We're not in school anymore!" whined James.

"Well, you were caught in the first year dorms, which I seem to recall is on school grounds!" she said, slowly breathing in and out, obviously trying to calm herself down. A slow smile spread across the Marauders' faces.

"Professor," said Sirius in mock awe, "You've learned how to be literal!"

"That is not funny, Mr. Black! Now get up and go to my office before I double the punishment! All of you!"

"Eh," said James, shrugging, "I don't really feel like going to detention. How about you two?"

"Nah," said Sirius, a grin spreading over his face. "I suppose not," answered Remus, smirking.

"Then what are we doing waiting around here?" asked James. "Let's go!"

"Right you are, Jamie," said Sirius, grinning even wider, "Off we go!"

And much to Professor McGonagall's utter disbelief, they grabbed ahold of Fred and George, threw the Invisibility Cloak over them, and cast Disillusionment charms on themselves so that they could sneak past Professor McGonagall without getting caught.

But Professor McGonagall wasn't a hatstall for nothing. The Sorting Hat almost couldn't decide whether she would be put in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, and with good reason, for now the Ravenclaw side kicked in, and, using her quick thinking, she blocked off the exit with a Shield Charm.

But, unfortunately for her, the Marauders weren't top in their year for nothing, either. They opened the window, grabbed the twins, and jumped down, using a Cushioning Charm for a safe landing.

Down on the ground, the group of boys listened to the outraged screaming of Professor McGonagall and the loud groans from the other boys in the dorm that had woken up.

The Marauders casually dusted off their robes, as if they did this every day, while the twins emptied their stomachs onto the ground. "You okay?" asked Remus, patting their backs.

"Yeah," replied George, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Definitely," said Fred. "That certainly was… interesting."

"That it was," muttered Remus, "That it was."

"Now, come on over here and hurry up before we get caught!" called Sirius. He and James were already halfway across the grounds, heading towards the Whomping Willow.

"Wait," panted George as he struggled to catch up with them. "You still haven't told us why you're here or what your names are."

"Really?" said Remus, who was running with them. "I thought we already did. Well, we'll tell you everything once we see reach the Shack."

"What Shack?" asked Fred. "You'll see," said Remus with a mysterious smile.

They then reached the Willow, where James and Sirius were crouching on the ground, looking for a long stick.

"Ah, this is perfect!" said James, grabbing one from off of the ground and inspecting it.

"Perfect for what?" asked George, staring at it.

"You two sure ask a lot of questions," said Sirius, standing up and brushing off his robes.

"Well, I think we deserve more than just a few questions," said Fred, "Considering we were woken in the middle of the night by total strangers in a place that's supposedly really, _really_ hard to break into, and then ambushed by our super-strict Head of House and given detention for a whole entire week, which wasn't even really our fault-"

"Okay, okay, we get it," said James, also standing up with the stick in hand. "And for your information, she gave _us_ detention, and not _you_ , which really wasn't fair at all, since we aren't even in school anymore."

He threw the stick like a javelin through the tree's waving branches, and, in an instant, the tree froze. "Come on," he said, gesturing for them all to come over. "The Shack's this way." He slipped down into the tunnel, Sirius sliding in after him. Remus and the twins came last. The twins fit in easily, their heads barely scraping the ceiling of the passageway, but the Marauders had to get down onto their hands and knees and crawl through.

A few minutes later, they emerged from the tunnel into a dark room, where the windows were all boarded up and the furniture was all ripped.

The Marauders looked around with a reminiscent smile, which confused Fred and George. Smiling was the last thing they felt like doing right now.

"We haven't been in here for quite a while now," said James, plopping himself down on one of the torn up chairs. "Brings back a lot of memories."

"What are you talking about?" asked Fred. "You haven't been here before, have you?"

Sirius snorted. "I'd've thought that was obvious, seeing as we knew the precise location of the entrance, knew exactly how to get past the Willow, and seem so comfortable in a house that looks like it's been mauled. _Has_ been mauled, actually."

The twins just gaped at him. "I told you that I'd give you the whole story when we got here, so I guess now, I'll have to tell it." said Remus. He took a deep breath. "I am a werewolf." The twins gasped.

"That's where all this starts, with me getting bitten. My parents didn't want me to go to school, but when Professor Dumbledore became Headmaster, he allowed me to go to Hogwarts. My parents were reluctant at first, but in the end, they finally agreed. So when I was eleven, I set off for Hogwarts, under special circumstances, of course. This house was built for my use, for me to sneak into every full moon during my transformations. But, despite everything, I made friends, three very close friends. James," he gestured to James, "Sirius," he then gestured to Sirius, "and Peter." James and Sirius snarled at the name. Fred and George didn't ask.

"For the first time, I wasn't shunted from wizardkind, because nobody knew my secret. There, I was just a regular kid, just a normal, albeit a slightly sickly, student at Hogwarts. But eventually, my friends figured it out. They connected my many disappearances to the dates of the full moon. They recognized all the symptoms."

"It didn't exactly help that you were the worst liar Hogwarts had ever seen," added Sirius, snorting.

Remus went on as though he hadn't been interrupted.

"But, instead of pushing me away, they did the best thing they ever could have done. They became Animagi. Werewolves are only dangerous to humans. As animals, they could keep me in check, and they were even able to make the transformations into some of the best times of my life."

"Don't forget the part where we're master pranksters, now, Moony," said Sirius, lounging on a dusty old sofa that had stuffing leaking out of some claw marks.

"Right. So, me, James, Peter, and Sirius formed our own little group. We called ourselves 'the Marauders'. We played lots of pranks, told lots of jokes, made lots of puns, and built up lots of arrogance. You happy now, Sirius?"

"Yeah, sure," he said lazily. "So, anyway, that's the tale of the Marauders." concluded Remus.

"You still haven't answered our question; what do you want us for?"

"Ah," James smiled mischievously. "Now that's the fun part. See, now that we're out of Hogwarts, we need to make sure that mischief in Hogwarts continues on. That's our mission. And that's why we need you. We've decided that you two are the best candidates for the job. And you can tell your friend, Lee Jordan, about this, or whatever his name was."

"How do you know about Lee?" asked Fred, narrowing his eyes.

"We did a lot of background research," James shrugged.

"Creepy stalkers," muttered George under his breath.

"So, anyway, we haven't seen your prankster skills in action yet, and we need to know that you two are the right men for the job. So we've made you a little test. Here's the plan. You have to play at least three pranks on anyone in the castle by sunrise. And they can't just be like, I dunno, a water balloon randomly dropped on somebody's head. It has to be a good, well thought out prank. We'll be the judge of how good it is. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot," James grinned. "One of the pranks have to be on Ol' Minnie McG." Fred and George gaped at him.

"No way!"

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"It's impossible!"

"It can't be done!"

"Calm down," said James, rolling his eyes. "The prank on McGonagall doesn't have to be as complex as all the other ones. We're not _that_ mean."

That, however, was no comfort to Fred and George.


End file.
